For two years, COVID-19 has ravaged the world, severed the connections between countries and changed the global political landscape. Protectionism, xenophobia, anti-intellectualism and geopolitical hostility have defined the chaotic international effort to combat the virus.

It is time to restore and reshape the global connection and no country should be left behind.

On January 17, Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the Davos 2022, offering a vision for a way forward for the global community. As he said, small boats can't survive in a storm, but a giant ship could. A world divided cannot expect to row through the crisis as smoothly as a world united could.

Vaccine inequality has been the biggest hurdle to that unity. While some countries have been fortunate enough to start giving booster shots to its population, a large swath of countries are still struggling to provide basic doses for its people. According to UN's data, countries with the least provisions, largely central and southern Africa countries, could only secure first doses for only 60 percent of their population. The spread of different variants exacerbates these countries' pandemic control efforts.

Vaccine hoardings can't be allowed to continue. According to France 24's report, study has found that 1.8 billion vaccine doses were promised by rich countries but only about 14 percent of them have been delivered. The United States have promised 1.2 billion, but only given 350 million by the end of 2021.

Since the start of the pandemic, China has never shied away from its responsibility as a pillar of international system. China has already provided 2 billion doses of vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations. By November 30, 2021, China has provided nearly 180 million doses of vaccine to all the countries in Africa. And President Xi said during his speech at Davos that China will provide another one billion doses, including 600 million as donations to Africa.

Supplying vaccines to the international community doesn't deter countries' domestic efforts to keep the virus at bay. A push for vaccination coupled with the timely, targeted and dynamic lockdowns allowed China to achieve a GDP growth of 8.1 percent in 2021, surpassing the forecasts and is the best growth rate in the last ten years. It's an achievement that all can learn from and apply to their countries based on their individual qualities and the realities on the world.

President Xi remarked that economic globalization is the trend of the time. No recovery could be considered "full" unless the global community get on the same page and recover together. Achieving a global recovery while putting together exclusive small circles or blocks is a pipe dream. COVID-19 has knitted geopolitics, economy and public health together. The world can't expect to pick and choose, hoping to advance together on some while fighting in other areas. Cooperation needs to be across the board. Old enmities and thinking can't impede the work and progress that need to be done today.

We all need to row together or we would sink separately. Every country has to do their part for the world to get back on course. Global connections on all level need to be restored. And it is paramount that we make sure no country is left out of this mission.

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